Escapades
by Yuki-Onna1
Summary: A small collection of shenanigans that Netto somehow manages to get into. Fem!Netto, Classic AU setting. Currently taking chapter requests.
1. City Strike

This was just a flash of inspiration that came to me, and I had to write it out. Right now, it's just a one-shot, but if you guys want, I can add more to this. Like a series of one-shots. Never done that before.

This kind of takes place in the Classic Rockman universe, but with Rockman EXE characters.

I don't own Rockman EXE.

* * *

City Strike

"Are you sure you don't need help?" Forte asked Netto for what must be the fourth time as they walked down the street. He was currently out in civilian clothes, a black jacket over a white shirt, long black pants, and grey sneakers. His blond hair, never having been brushed, stuck out in all directions.

Netto only laughed and rolled her eyes, shifting the large box filled with E-cans in her arms. "Absolutely sure. Besides, you need your hands free in case…" She glanced around at the humans and robots that walked around, and switched to the private channel she shared with Forte. _'…In case Wily sent someone here to try to get me.'_ She wore a blue baseball cap to cover her brown hair, as well as a light purple jacket, black pants, and blue sneakers.

Forte nodded, already scanning the area for possible threats. Netto smiled, but it was soon replaced by a frown. They had to hide as humans for a reason. It wouldn't do if they were outed as robots, and creations of the greatest scientists alive, at that. That would be like firing up a signal and screaming for someone, like Wily, to find them.

Netto couldn't help but sigh, receiving a pat on the shoulder from Forte in the process. She was well aware that she was the reason they had to hide. It wasn't her fault that she was built to be the world's largest database! But of course, that made her valuable, and a target for Wily.

And he succeeded in kidnapping her, sending Forte, his strongest robot, to do it. Fortunately for Netto, she had the time to set up dozens of firewalls preventing anyone, even herself, from accessing the database, and managed to wipe away many of her memory files as well.

Great.

Forte, who absolutely hated his creator by this point, had decided to do the one thing he knew would anger Wily the most.

He ran away and took Netto with him just as Wily had torn down the last firewall she set in place. Amazing how that all happened in a year.

Now, several months later, they decided to settle in the outskirts of a small town and fake certificates to get jobs. The citizens there hardly ask questions, which made it even better.

A flash of a television on display caught Netto's attention and she excitedly nudged Forte towards it. Like she had hoped, it showed the heroic robot duo, Rockman and Blues, defeating Wily yet again. The scientist flew off in a rage as his metal giant collapsed into a heap of scrap metal.

"That was surprisingly quick." Forte murmured, resting his head on Netto's shoulder. She clicked her tongue in annoyance but didn't try to shrug him off. He'll just do it again anyways. One of the many habits they've both picked up from reading up on human behaviors.

"Maybe's because a certain someone's not there to help him." She offered up with a grin.

Forte chuckled. "And where do you suppose that certain someone is?"

Netto shrugged with her free shoulder and looked up at the sky. "He's probably…what's that?" She picked up faint noise in the distance. Sounded like screaming.

Forte raised his head up, trying listen to whatever Netto heard. Instead, he saw thin trails of smoke. There was another. And another. They were growing closer to their location. And now Forte could hear the explosions. And the screaming.

Netto immediately dashed towards the explosions, leaving Forte behind. He cursed to himself, not quite able to understand why she would go to a place that practically screamed "Wily is attacking!" Must be because she was programmed by a Hikari, can't resist the need to protect humans. He followed after her anyways, because he has no intention of letting that idiot robot get captured and taken to Skull Fortress again.

Not on his watch.

* * *

Netto didn't really know what to do as she came face to face with two of Wily's robots, Fireman and Elecman. She was still carrying the box of E-cans, which she didn't think to put down beforehand, so she couldn't use her buster. Which was one of the only ways she could protect herself.

Good job, Netto.

If only she was a combat robot instead of a database. If only she had a copy ability like Forte, or be able to charge her shots like Rockman, or be able to call out a sword like Blues. But noooo, her creator _had_ to just give her a simple buster and _all of the information available in the world_ and think "Yeah, this is fine."

Yay. And now Fireman and Elecman are coming after her and _oh man she needs to run like right_ _ **now**_.

She held the box of precious E-cans closer to herself and sprinted on out. The chase went on for several more blocks. Unlike the town where she lived with Forte, the city roads were unfamiliar and Netto really didn't have time to pull up a map of the area since that would mean that she would need to slow down. Not the best option right now.

If she was a human, she would have been exhausted right now. If she was a human, she wouldn't have gotten into this situation in the first place.

Now's not the time for weird thoughts, she reminded herself as she rounded a corner and-

Oh no.

Ohhh noooooo.

 _A dead end._

Where was Forte? Better question, where's Rockman and Blues? Surely they would have arrived by now, right? At least she was the only one being targeted right now.

Great thought to have when she's backed up against a brick wall.

"It would be easier on all of us if you agreed to come with us, Database." Elecman spoke, lightning crackling at his fingertips. Netto cringed. Was that really what Wily called her? That was so general! There were plenty of other databases in the world!

None that were given a mobile form like her, though.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Netto denied. Her eyes darted to the street behind the two, then up to the sky, hoping for some sign that help was coming.

Fireman scoffed. Or did he? It was hard to tell since he didn't have a mouth. "You know exactly what we're talking about. We belong to Dr. Wily, after all."

Netto resisted the urge to groan. Of course the scientist would install some kind of recognition program just so he has a better chance of finding her.

…Wait, is that Rockman going up for a sneak attack?

Their eyes met and he raised his finger to his lips, the universal sign to be quiet. Netto looked away and back to Elecman. He didn't seem to have noticed Rockman yet. Fireman didn't either. Time for her to provide a distraction.

"Well, tell that old man that I have no intention of going back there. I _like_ my freedom, thank you very much." To her surprise, both Fireman and Elecman laughed.

"Really, you think you're free with _him_?" Fireman's tone was mocking. "As if. He'll only-" His next words were cut off as he was struck by a charged plasma shot in the back. Moments after he fell forward, Elecman had a sword through his chest, thankfully in a nonfatal spot.

"Are you alright, miss?" Blues asked after he dismissed his sword. Netto nodded dumbly, forgetting how to breathe for a minute. Her idols, the _world's_ idols, Rockman and Blues, just saved her and talked to her?!

Not that she needed to breathe, but it always helped having a little cold air cool her systems down some.

She was escorted out of the alley by Blues, and Rockman came to join them.

"U-um…" Netto's voice was quiet, and she hope she wasn't overheating. "Have you seen my friend? We got separated a while back. He's about my height, blond hair, red eyes?"

"Might that be him behind you?" Rockman asked with a small smile.

Netto turned to look, and felt a fist come down lightly on her head.

"You idiot." Forte chided. "Don't just run off by yourself like that."

Netto pouted. "I'm fine, so it's alright! And besides, the E-cans aren't damaged!" She held up the box, which Forte then took from her.

"Don't you have some people to thank?" He nodded at Rockman and Blues. "The sooner you do that, the sooner we can go home."

Oh, right. They used to be enemies. Good thing that Forte hadn't switched to his armor form yet.

Netto turned to the other two and bowed. "Thank you very much for saving me."

"It's no problem." Rockman laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm Rockman and that one over there is Blues. It's nice to meet you." He held out a hand.

Netto laughed as well, clasping Rockman's hand. "I'm-" Her sentence was cut off into a gasp as unfamiliar images flooded her head. She wrenched her hand away and stumbled back, stopping only when she bumped into Forte. The same thing happened to Rockman, who had to be held steady by Blues.

' _Netto, what's wrong?'_ Forte asked her, followed by a flash of worry. Netto only groaned, completely disoriented by the cluster of images. She shoved them away into a spare folder, where they'll stay until she had the time to sort through them.

"…Netto?" Netto flinched, then looked at Rockman. How did he know her name? "You're Netto, aren't you? It's me, Saito! Me and Papa and Enzan and the others, we were looking everywhere for you!"

 _Saito. Papa. Enzan._

Those words were unlocking parts of her memory that she didn't even know existed. Apparently her memory files were just password-protected, not deleted like Wily had thought. It wasn't a good time for that though, because she felt like she was going to overload from all of the information she's gaining in the span of a few seconds.

And Netto was supposed to be an ever-expanding database. Ha.

Something was passed to her. The box of E-cans? Netto felt herself being picked up by Forte, and the thump of his feet as he ran. There were cries of surprise from behind them, probably from Rockman or Blues.

"Are you able to teleport us?" Forte asked her hurriedly.

Netto squeezed her eyes shut, shoving away the currently unwanted memories and nodded. "Yeah, just give me a moment." Soon, they vanished in a burst of blue light.

However, since Forte was still running, they almost crashed into a tree.

"What do you want to do when we get home?" Forte asked, walking along the familiar path that they took every day.

Netto make a noise, then responded. "Wanna sleep. Drink from an E-can. Are you gonna put me down?"

"No."

* * *

Really, this was kind of bugging me and I couldn't find a way to start the next chapter of PTT, so yeah.

This is actually PTT main plot twisted and made to fit in a universe similar to Classic universe.

I'll just keep this up or something. If you guys want something that would happen in this universe, just leave it in the reviews or PM me.


	2. Roboenza

LILO1938: You're so kind! Funny thing is, this story's actually an alternate universe of the universe alteration fanfiction that I'm also writing. It's called Partner Times Two, check it out if you're interested!

Aquila Aqua: Of course! That'll be the next chapter.

Here's another idea with this universe.

I don't own Rockman EXE.

* * *

Roboenza

Netto sighed as she leaned against the door leading to Forte's room. It was just Forte's luck to get infected with the new Roboenza virus that was spreading around. It was supposed to turn robots violent, too.

Forte's already pretty violent, but that's not the point.

The point is that there isn't any medicine to cure him, and while Netto may still be alright, she can't guarantee that she'll stay that way.

A whine distracted Netto from her thoughts and she bent down to pet Gospel, Forte's support unit. "He'll be fine." She said, then winced at her own words. That sounded as unconvincing as it could possibly get.

There was a knock at the front door. Netto straightened up and walked over to it, Gospel trailing behind her. The knocking increased in frequency and volume.

"Who is it?" Netto asked, opening the door. She got an armful of overheating Enzan and heard the worried meowing of his support unit, Tango. "Enzan! What are you doing here?!"

They had met a couple of months ago, when Netto found Enzan severely injured in the forest surrounding her and Forte's home. Netto had fixed him up, and a week later Enzan was well enough to wherever he lived. However, he stayed for another week, getting to know Netto again. Now, he shows up at least once every week.

"…Wanted to…check on you…" Enzan slurred. Overheating and dilated pupils. Netto resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Apparently Roboenza causes victims to make bad decisions as well. She's definitely going to lecture him when he gets better.

"You need rest." Netto picked him up, nearly cringing at the heat, and moved him to the guest bedroom. Turning to Tango, she spoke to it. "Keep an eye on Enzan and Forte, alright?"

It made a questioning meow.

"Gospel's coming with me, so you need to stay behind to keep the house from burning down." Netto headed into the kitchen, grabbing a couple of E-cans. "If I'm lucky, I'll be back soon with the medicine."

Roboenza only appeared recently, and was too sudden to be completely natural. And Netto had next to no knowledge of it or anything similar. If it was manmade, there was only one person she could think of that could and would do this.

"Come on, Gospel." She murmured. "There's an old man we need to track down."

* * *

Netto raised up her buster arm and shot the robot in front of her, hitting its weak point with precision. Her enemy stumbled, and Gospel attacked. She watched numbly as the dog ruthlessly tore the robot apart, until only scraps of metal and wires remained. How many was this again? They fought too many to count. At this point, all of the shapes had blurred together, separating themselves into two categories: Gospel and not-Gospel. It was getting easier too, to find weak points using her database, to shoot them with no hesitance, to watch as Gospel finished them off.

Finding out where Wily is was more frustrating than she thought. It turns out that some of the robot masters that turned violent had pieces of Wily Fortress' coordinates with them. Which only made her quest harder than it needed to be. She had managed to find and defeat three robot masters, and was on her way to the fourth, so it wasn't impossible for her.

Netto walked on, past the shredded bits of robot and further into the water plant that housed the next robot master, Gospel at her side. She took a break at the next empty room, unable to continue moving on at the moment. Slumping down onto the hard gray floor, she checked her status again. Her damage was kept at a minimum, thanks to her nanites. Optical functions were perfect, but her systems were running forty percent faster than usual. Her fine motor skills dropped by twenty percent in functionality, and her energy output…she grimaced. That was the worst, since it increased her body temperature by eighty percent.

She let out a shaky breath. She had seen those symptoms before, knew what her body temperature would be. It was still a miracle that her sight hasn't blurred yet, but it was only a matter of time. She thought of Forte and Enzan, of the reports shown on the television. She mentally took note of her symptoms, and compared it to what she had seen from Forte and Enzan. It matched what she had of Forte two days before. She cursed quietly to herself.

Netto really hates Roboenza.

The door to the room swung open, and she instantly brought her buster arm up, shooting at the intruder before she recognized his profile. The plasma shot was easily blocked, and Gospel took the momentary distraction to lunge at the threat.

"No! Gospel, down!" Netto shouted, not wanting the dog to get skewered. "He's not a threat!"

Gospel slowed, clawing at the ground in confusion. It shot the intruder a glare before trotting back to Netto. She reached out and petted the support unit, noting with concern that Gospel's body temperature had risen, almost matching her own.

Darn.

She closed her eyes for a few moments, then fluttered them open to gaze at the red robot in front of her. "Well," she drawled out, lips twitching upward in an attempted smirk. "Fancy meeting you here, Blues."

"What are you doing out here, Netto?" He asked, taking a slightly relaxed stance after registering that there was nothing dangerous to him in the room.

"In this warzone?" Netto rolled her eyes. "What else? I'm trying to find a cure for Roboenza." Her eyes flicked to behind him, and she frowned. "Where's Rockman?"

Rockman, not Saito, because Saito should never be out on the battlefield.

…Nor should Netto, but she was never a fan of listening to instructions.

"At home." Blues replied curtly. He pursed his lips, turning his head to the left. "…He's sick."

There was a slight bit of worry that Netto detected in his voice. Of course, since they were partners in nearly every meaning of the word. She herself would be worried if her energy wasn't diverted to trying to purge the Roboenza Virus from her systems.

Of course, it wasn't working very well.

"I see," Netto said. "When?"

"Last night." Blues answered. "I was there when he collapsed." Netto wasn't even going to ask why Blues was there. She could already guess. "He's being looked after by Hikari-hakase and…Wily-hakase."

"Oh." All of his words finally registered, and Netto jolted in surprise. "Wily-hakase!? What?!"

He grimaced, as if the thought of Wily being anywhere near the currently vulnerable Rockman sickened him. "He claimed that the robots that were driven violent by the Roboenza virus stole his medicine-making machine, and begged me to get it back." His hand clenched. "If he was saying the truth…"

"…You would be able to get Rockman the medicine he needs." Netto finished. She had come this far because she figured that the Robot Masters might drop some clues to the location of Wily Fortress, but this wasn't expected at all. "I'm trying to do the same thing. For-"

Netto blinked, systems starting up. When did she end up on the floor…?

"Netto, what's wrong?" Slowly, she lifted her head to look at Blues, who stood a few feet away from her. Gospel was between them, growling and baring its fangs in warning at the red swordsman.

"Gospel, down." She murmured. It complied reluctantly, stepping backward while keeping an eye on Blues the entire time. Netto frowned. So she had suddenly restarted without warning?

Stupid Roboenza Virus. It's probably messing with her systems for fun.

"I think it might have been the stress of being in battle for the first time." Netto decided to say. Blues' face didn't so much as twitch, but it didn't seem like he believed her. If his visor was off, she could see what he was thinking. But that would never happen except with Enzan, who was his brother unit, or Rockman, when they were…

…Whoa, whoa there. Let's delete that train of thought now. Netto would rather not know what her brother was doing. Or who.

Ew ew ew. Definitely going to delete that thought right now, this instant.

While Netto was busy with her internal thoughts, a part of Blues' helmet beeped and he held a hand up to the side of it, quietly communicating with whoever was on the other end of the transmission.

"What?" Netto heard Blues ask in a sharp tone. Which was unusual, coming from him. But then again, she hasn't had many interactions with him compared to Rockman or Enzan. "…Understood." He ended the call.

"Blues, what's wrong?" She questioned. Blues tilted his head slightly, carefully observing her.

Or so she likes to think. It's hard to read facial expressions when the top half of his face is constantly covered by a visor. Visors are annoying, she decided.

"I'd like to think I'm trustworthy." Netto continued. "Besides, there's no one else but us in here. You can tell me."

"…" Blues remained silent for an absurdly long time, and just when she was considering giving up on the matter, he spoke. "Hikari-hakase has informed me that Enzan had gone missing a few hours ago."

"Oh." Netto sighed in disappointment. She thought it would be something good, not old news. "He's fine. He's at my place with Tango and Forte. Caught Roboenza too. Gospel and I were the only ones that were able to fight without that virus messing us up, so we looked around for a cure and ended up here." And now they both had Roboenza, which was just _fantastic_.

Of course, there was no way she's gonna tell Blues about that. They still have an objective to meet, and she wasn't going to let him keep her from that. And he most definitely will, if he finds out.

"Is that so?" Netto nodded at the question, vision going blurry for a moment before refocusing. "I see. Thank you for helping him."

"No problem." She waved a hand, then slowly stood up, leaning on the wall for support. "Come on, I had enough of a break in here." With a flick of her wrist, she brought out her buster again. "I'm no Rockman, but I'm pretty sure I can support you in battle. Gospel and I made a pretty good team, y'know?" She held up her other hand to Blues. "What do you say?"

"Fine." Blues took it. "Don't get yourself destroyed."

"I should say the same to you." She shot back. Netto had come this far, after all. There was no way she was going to let a virus bring her down so easily.

* * *

Her head felt hot. Heavy. Her entire body burned. Vision was almost constantly blurry.

And still she pressed on, struggling to match pace with Blues.

They had finished off the last Robot Master, and Netto had just taken the last of the coordinates she needed when she blacked out. Blues shouting her name was the last thing she heard as she fell.

When she came to, feeling even worse than she had before, Blues was pressing a hand against her forehead. Netto sighed in relief at the cool touch and almost whined when it lifted.

"You have Roboenza." Blues stated. In a tone that implied that he had known all along and disapproved of her omission. How does he do that?

"I..." Netto mumbled. "I…guess…" She slowly glanced around, noting with concern that they were the only ones in the room.

Well, they and the heap of deactivated robot in the far corner. Maybe she'll apologize to whoever it was the next time they meet. If they ever meet outside of a Wily War.

"Where…Gospel…?" Its absence was probably the reason why Blues was able to get within a five-foot radius of Netto.

"It left." Netto struggled to sit up at that, only to get gently pushed down. "If you move, you'll only strain yourself more."

"But…Gospel…" She weakly protested. "It has…Roboenza…too…"

One of the doors to the room slid open, and Netto turned her head at the sound. She twitched when she saw a blob of purple slowly getting larger. "Gos…pel…?"

The dog whined in reply, followed by a clinking sound as something was dropped on the floor. Netto squinted at the object, but was unable to make out anything other than the fact that it was partly red. Gospel nudged the thing towards her, and managed to get it onto her open hand. Netto shivered. Since when did Gospel have such a low body temperature?

"Be careful." Blues warned. "We don't know what that is." Gospel barked angrily at him, as if to argue that it would never give Netto anything that was dangerous to her. Maybe it forgot that time when it found a beam saber and gave it to her, and had almost stabbed her when it accidentally pressed the 'on' button.

Netto, with some difficulty, raised her hand to her mouth. "I…am the…master of…reckless…decisions…" She declared, and swallowed the pellet-like object.

Almost instantly, she had felt better. Sitting up, she noticed, to her delight, that her body temperature had steadily dropped until it was back to normal. All her systems have stopped trying to melt themselves by overheating.

Gospel immediately tackled her back to the ground, wagging its tail happily and licking at her face. Netto laughed, trying to push the dog away.

"Gospel, no!" She giggled. "That tickles!"

There was a click. Netto turned to squint at Blues. "Did you just take a picture?"

"For Rockman."

* * *

Netto rubbed the bridge of her nose. "So the Roboenza Virus was created because Wily-hakase had a fever and wanted us robots to know how he felt?" How petty.

"That…" Blues hesitated, "…seems to be the most likely explanation."

They were both looking in the direction of a red-faced Wily, who was collapsed on the ground, surrounded by the scraps of his latest 'killing machine.'

Netto sighed, having the strangest urge to help the scientist out. Must have been something in her programming. "Why don't you get him to a hospital? I'll stay behind to look for the medicine."

The hours of fighting together with Blues told her that he was giving her a _look_. "I'll be fine. Gospel's still gonna be with me, right?"

Gospel gave an affirming bark.

Blues remained motionless for a few more seconds, then turned back to Wily. "Do not get yourself destroyed."

"I won't." Was there supposed to be some kind of hidden meaning in that sentence? Does he say that to show he cares, or is it just because Netto wasn't suited for combat? Does Rockman have psychic abilities, since he's apparently great at translating Blues-speak?

Maybe she should just stop thinking about it.

Netto watched as Blues warped away with Wily, and looked down when Gospel nudged her leg. Seeing that it had her attention, Gospel trotted to the wall, sniffed, and barked.

"Is something over there?" Netto asked, walking over to Gospel. It whined, scratching at the wall. "You know, it would help if I could get some more info other than 'the wall,' y'know?"

Gospel glared at her. Netto sighed. "Fine, be vague. Whatever." She began to feel around for something out of the ordinary, like a switch or a button. Two minutes later, she encountered a bump that protruded from the wall. There was nothing to suggest that it was anything important, other than being a bump on a mostly flat wall. So like any curious person would, Netto pressed it.

There was a rumble, and Netto stepped back in surprise as a portion of the wall slowly slid away to reveal…

"No way." Netto breathed out in amazement. "A secret laboratory here of all places?"

Gospel huffed in pride.

"Yeah, yeah. Not gonna doubt you again anytime soon. Now c'mon, let's go see what goodies Wily-hakase hid in here."

They slowly stepped into the room, glancing around for any traps. It was Netto who spotted the Roboenza medicine first, heaped in a pile near a large machine.

She stared. "This is how the 'great' scientist organizes?" Looking around, she noticed that the area was a mess. Papers were everywhere, and Netto almost tripped over a machine part more than once. "It's just like Papa's place, last time I've seen it." She made her way to the pile of medicine. "Do all scientists do this?" Gospel whined impatiently. "Fine, I'll hurry up. Now, let's see…Rockman, Enzan, and Forte need some…" She counted. "…Meiru's a bit sick, so I should get her some too. I heard that Yaito's assistant and Dekao from the nearby town got sick. Ah, Tango might get infected. And some for you, Blues, and me, just in case."

Netto straightened up, pockets bulging with the capsules. "I'll tell Blues to come get the rest later. Come on, Gospel. We're going home." She rested her hand on top of Gospel's head, and soon they vanished with a burst of blue light.

* * *

Teleporting with another person/thing, in this universe, requires physical contact.

I was watching a playthrough of Megaman 10 and started wondering about how Escapades!Netto would deal with Roboenza.

If there's anything you guys want in this universe, feel free to leave it in the reviews or PM me!


	3. How to (Not) Make a Friend

Here's a chapter for Aquila Aqua, who requested an explanation on how Netto got kidnapped, and how she got saved by Forte.

Aquila Aqua: That may take two or more chapters. One for Netto-Saito reunion and one for Netto-Enzan reunion. Another chapter might be needed for pre-City Strike stuff. Sounds fun!

Please enjoy!

Editor: kaffinee

I don't own Rockman EXE.

* * *

How to (Not) Make a Friend

"Be careful, Rock," Netto warned, double-checking the screen in front of her just in case she got her info wrong. "There's a high energy reading in the next room. Probably a Robot Master, from the looks of it." Netto sighed as her hair got in her face again, reluctantly taking out a hair tie and pulling her waist-long hair up into a loose ponytail.

"Thanks, Netto," the voice of Rockman—also called Saito when there wasn't a Wily War—sounded through the headset that Netto wore. She waited patiently, tapping away on the keyboard, when Rockman spoke up again: "Do you know who it is?"

Netto grinned. There was the question she was waiting for! "Of course! I'm not you and Blues' navigator just for my ability to point out the obvious, y'know." There was a small huff of amusement, and Netto's grin widened. She got Blues to laugh!

Well, the closest he could get to laughing during wartime, anyway. But a laugh was a laugh, and today was a good day for her to be able to do that. Now all that's left to make this day even better were if Rockman and Blues managed to defeat Wily today, Enzan dropped by to visit, or Papa came home. Any of the three, really.

She needed to get back on task. "Anyway, the Robot Master is Iceman."

" _What?!"_

Netto winced at the volume. "Next time you do that, warn me first." She brought up a blueprint of the water plant the duo were currently in, then started hacking into the water plant's system to take control of the security cameras.

"Sorry, but why would Iceman do that? He doesn't like Wily, either!"

"That's an understatement," Netto muttered under her breath, then continued on in a normal voice: "Hold up, I just got control over the cameras." Images popped up on the screen, and she carefully scanned each one. "Hey, I can see you guys!"

Rockman's form spun around, and he waved at the camera. Blues just nodded in its direction. Netto smiled, returning to her scan of the areas that the cameras could reach. One of them showed a storage room, with an adult human male tied up inside. Another showed Iceman himself, who was standing in a large room filled with snow and ice, a defeated look on his face.

"Hikawa-san's being held hostage in a storage room… a floor above you guys," she reported, focusing on the camera that was on Iceman. There had to be someone else—someone who was actually in Wily's service—in there to threaten Iceman like that.

There! A tuft of blue hair peeked out from the bottom of the camera screen, and its owner was being glared at by Iceman. Netto squinted, recognizing that particular shade. "You should be prepared for a two on two battle. Coloredman's there with him." Humming in thought, she continued, "If you could free Hikawa-san, Iceman's likely to help with Coloredman."

"Understood," Blues said as he sliced through a few Mettools.

There was a knock on the front door, catching Netto's attention immediately. "Guys, I'll be away for a bit. Someone's at the door."

"It's fine!" Rock chirped. "You've helped a lot. We're not that hopeless."

"Suuure you're not." She laughed and then took off her headset, placing it next to the keyboard. Standing up, she made her way over to the door and looked through the peephole. She frowned. Weird, she couldn't see anyone there…

A prank?

She turned away, about to head back to her room, and jumped in surprise when the knocks started again. There was… still no one there when she checked again…

… This was getting kind of creepy…

Why didn't Papa ever install security cameras at home again?

Her hand grasped the doorknob tightly, waiting for the prankster to knock again—which they did about thirty seconds later.

She quickly twisted the doorknob, flinging the door open and began to yell at the prankster. "Would you qui—"

Red eyes.

Black.

* * *

Rockman couldn't help but shiver. And it wasn't from the cold. He wasn't sure if that could even happen.

No, the shiver was from something else.

He watched the blue flash of teleportation appear, Coloredman vanishing away with it. From behind them, Tohru rushed forward and knelt down next to the injured Iceman. Since Netto could only see things from the security cameras, she had noticed Coloredman, but not Tohru, who was also held hostage. She sure was taking her time…

"Iceman!" he cried, "please be alright!"

"He's going to be fine," Rockman comforted the human boy after checking on the amount of damage Iceman received. It wasn't anything too serious, just some scratches. Hikawa stepped forward, setting his hand on his son's shoulder.

Tohru looked up, tears slowly rolling down his face. "Otou-san…"

"Let's believe in Rockman's words, okay? I'm sure Iceman will be up and running in no time." Slowly, Tohru nodded, and Rockman turned away to give them some privacy.

He reached out, taking Blues' hand. Blues gave him a small smile, and he shyly smiled back before closing his eyes and teleporting them both to Papa's laboratory. There, a brown-haired scientist known as Hikari Yuuichirou, creator of Rockman and Netto, looked up from his research in surprise. Rush, who was Netto's support unit as well as Papa's assistant most of the time, bounced into Rockman's arms and licked at his face.

"Rush!" He giggled. "We're back, Papa!"

"Welcome back, Bruce and Saito." The two froze at the mention of their civilian names, looking at the scientist in curiosity. Yuuichirou sighed, rubbing at the bridge of his nose in exhaustion. There was stubble on his chin, giving Roc-Saito a good guess as to how long his Papa was in here. "Strangely, there aren't any other signs of activity. Dr. Wily has disappeared off the map, it seems."

Saito frowned. "Really? But he hasn't even shown off his brand-new master plan yet."

The communicator crackles with static, and Blues—no— _Bruce_ answered it, since Saito's hands were full. "Netto?"

"No, it's me," Bruce's brother, Enzan, corrected, "Netto isn't here."

Saito blinked in surprise. "Where is she, then?"

There was a moment of silence, and Saito began to worry. "That…" Enzan paused, sighing heavily. "… That I don't know. The door was unlocked and there was nobody in the house."

"W-what?" Saito stuttered, eyes widening. Rush whined in pain, and he instinctively loosened his grip around the dog. "B-but we…" Netto never left the house while there was a Wily War going on. It was one of the few times when she could exercise her hacking ability without any repercussions. He remembered something just then. "N-Netto… s-he…" A warning message popped up. He ignored it. "…Th-there was s-someone at the door… she w-went to go answer i-it…"

"Saito," Slowly, almost painfully, Saito turn his head to look up at Bruce. Bruce's visor was off, and Saito could see undisguised worry in his eyes. "Calm down. You're overheating."

It was now that Saito realized that steam was starting to rise up from his body. "I-I…" His legs gave out from under him, and he pitched forward, vision fading as he went into emergency shutdown.

"Saito!"

* * *

Netto groaned, her systems starting up. She squeezed her eyes shut, attempting to get her thoughts in order. There was a knock at home, she went to go answer it, and then… everything after that was blank. With that in mind, she blinked her eyes open.

"… Where am I?" It was a rather plain room with gray walls, a darker shade of gray for the floor, and a steel door. She could see a mess of wires from the computer that was a few meters away, and followed it with her eyes as they reached down to the floor, flowing over to her and…

She looked down. "Why the hellis my chest panel open?!" The cables were connecting her to the computer, though there wasn't anyone else but her in the room that could have done this. So where was this room supposed to be in, anyway?

For some reason, the colors felt really familiar. Especially that door. Where had she seen it?

Netto moved her arms up to take out the wires. At least, she tried to. No matter what she tried, the only body part she could move was her head. She clicked her tongue in frustration, and settled for glaring at the computer. It was likely the cause for her loss of motor control. If only she could get control of that computer…

… Wait, she could! And those wires would help her! Grinning, Netto sent her consciousness over to the computer, using the cables as her bridge. She easily broke through the weak firewalls and set to work on disabling whatever has been done to her.

She discovered that whoever kept her from moving had also been _downloading all the information she had stored._ Though, Netto had to wonder how her kidnapper had found out about that. Filing that question away for later, she proceeded to cancel the download and delete any traces of that information. Coming back to her body, she smiled in relief as she gently tugged out the cables, returned her wires to their original position and closed the panel.

A moment was spent upgrading and layering the firewalls she had in place around her data bank, and she tried to send a message to her brother. She failed. Something in the building was blocking off their connection, then. She couldn't teleport either. Oh, well. She was going to get out on her own anyway.

Carefully and quietly examining the room, she noticed that the air vents were too small for her to fit through. The only way out was that steel door. Her arm shifted into a buster, and she took a deep breath before slamming into the door, sprinting away into a hallway as it collapsed.

The alarms started ringing, and everything began to be tinted red. Despite this, the layout of the building was disturbingly familiar.

Eh, she could think about it after she escaped.

Netto continued onward, avoiding fights when she could. Unlike her brother, Netto had no armor at all, so she couldn't afford to take any damage. As she broke through another door, she spotted a giant 'W' on one of the walls.

"Wily sure likes to put his name everywhere," Netto muttered to herself, then stopped in surprise at what she had just said. She slowly turned to the wall and stared. "No way... how did he find out?" She shook her head. Now wasn't the time for that. The longer she stayed, the more likely it is that she'll be caught. With that in mind, she turned back to—

"Found you."

A pain at the back of her neck.

Black.

 _Again._

* * *

When Netto woke up again, it was to a loud, angry voice that took no notice of her state of consciousness. She did not move, staying still in order to eavesdrop on the conversation and better understand her current situation.

"—told you to keep an eye on her!" Netto instantly recognized the voice as belonging to Wily. Who was he speaking to, then? "And what did you do!? Get distracted and let her tear up my fortress!"

"There were satellites trying to find this place," the other person spoke quietly. It was the same voice that she heard before she got knocked out! "I had to go install the cloaking devices that you had forgotten about."

Netto carefully checked the firewalls that she had left in place. To her dismay, they had been reduced by more than half. She quickly built them back up, using the special password-protected firewalls that she had created herself. With that, it would be more difficult to break through without having the passwords. Those were sections of her memory, and if Wily was as skilled as Papa was, then the passwords had to go.

She had complete faith that her brother would be able to find her in time, after all.

"It seems that she is awake," the quiet voice stated.

Netto twitched at that, lifting up her head and glaring fiercely at the two. One was Wily, of course. The other one… her memory attached the face to the name 'Forte.' The strongest fighting robot that Wily had created thus far. It usually took a combined team effort for Blues and Rockman to defeat him, though Searchman helped when he visited with Laika. So that was the one who took her down twice.

Wily only laughed. "Well, _Hikari Netto,_ " he spat out the name like it was a curse, "I'm sure that you know why you're here." Netto's glare only intensified. "If you hand me that information like a good little 'bot, then I might even let you go unharmed." Forte glanced at the scientist, a poorly hidden incredulous look on his face.

Yeah, that's all she needed to know about whether Wily was telling the truth or not.

Netto couldn't help but smirk. "What's so funny?" Wily snapped.

"Proceeding with complete deletion of memory files," she simply said in a monotone voice, and enjoyed seeing Wily's face brighten into a lovely shade of tomato red.

"I order you to stop the deletion!"

"Denied." Only Papa had the ability to order her around, and he almost never did that. Forte caught her eye, gazing at her in curiosity.

' _Are you sure you want this?'_ he seemed to ask.

Netto stared back steadily. _'Of course.'_ Forte blinked, now giving her a look of… respect? Weird.

Her eyes gradually closed as the deletion caused a reboot of her systems, and the last thing she heard was the infuriated scream of Wily.

* * *

A blink. Then another. Her vision sharpened, and the unit gazed around at her surroundings in wonder. There was a human—an elderly one judging by the gray color of their hair—as well as a combat robot in the room.

"Who are you?" she questioned, slightly tilting her head in curiosity. Her voice was lighter than she thought it would be. Hmm, maybe she could change it so it'd be deeper.

The human glowered at her. Wow, how rude. She had just activated, right?

"Do you know who you are?" the combat robot asked, curiosity in his eyes. The human scowled at him.

"Umm…" she frowned, trying to find something that could answer that question. The answer popped up in her mind. "I'm DHN 001, Hikari Netto," she recited it as if it was something she had known forever. Considering that her 'forever' was about a minute so far and counting, she wasn't sure if that was a good thing. "You still haven't answered my question yet."

"There is no need to." The human stormed over to the computer a few meters away from her. Wires were connected to it, wires that connected her to the computer. He typed something, and Netto bit back a scream of pain, her head feeling like a sword was stabbed into it. She squeezed her eyes shut, weakly fighting back in hopes of lessening the pain.

She didn't know how long the agony lasted, only that it had been for too long when it finally seceded. Gasping for cold air in order to cool her overheating systems, she dimly heard footsteps leading away from her, a sharp voice, and the slamming of a door. Her eyes closed as her systems slowed, shifting into sleep mode to escape from the day's events.

* * *

"I was the one who kidnapped you," Forte told her one day. It was their fortieth conversation, which meant that forty days had probably passed.

Netto merely looked at him with tired eyes, filing the information away in case she ever managed to leave. These conversations were the best things that had happened to her. It was, in fact one of the only two things that had happened to her. The other one was Wily's hacking attempts at the firewalls that Netto had. Those always hurt.

"Oh," she sighed. If she could move, she would definitely punch him in the face. But she couldn't. "Why you?" Why would Wily send his strongest robot to take a supporter robot like her?

"He wanted to make sure that he would not have to make any repeat attempts," he replied.

Forte seemed a bit strange to her. He was usually quiet when Wily was there, but became more talkative when the human was gone. He had some kind of loyalty program installed in him, so he was forced to obey Wily's orders—which resulted in a lot of bitterness toward the man. He was assigned to make sure that nothing happened to her, and that was most likely the only reason why Forte even talked to her.

The door slammed open, and Netto braced herself for another day of pain.

* * *

Netto jolted awake at the sound of alarms, and blinked in confusion at the small smile that Forte revealed before it changed back into his usual frown. Wily howled in anger, pulling at his hair. He had been so close to accessing her data!

"How did they find this place?" Wily growled. "Never mind that. Forte!" The robot turned to him. "Get the database away. Make sure Rockman and Blues don't find her."

Forte bowed his head, and Wily left the room. Moving over to the computer, Forte tapped at the keyboard, nodding in satisfaction as… whatever he did was completed. He walked over to her and knelt down, unplugging the wires that connected her to the computer and reconnecting some stray wires. He picked her up and stood, heading over to the door as Netto yelped in surprise at the action.

"Where are we going?" she asked, watching the red-tinted walls speed by as Forte ran through the hallways. He didn't answer. Netto looked up at his face, carefully observing it. "You sent out some kind of beacon, didn't you?"

He twitched, a smirk on his face. "I merely sent them a coded message that contained Wily Fortress' coordinates."

"… But you've never done that," she pointed out. She thought about it, then gasped. "You're finally rebelling!" She grinned. "Took long enough."

They were outside the fortress now, and Netto gazed around in amazement. She could see trees! And grass, and… "The sky's so blue…" she whispered, awed.

Forte hummed, eyes flickering upwards for a moment before focusing in front of him. "I suppose. Never paid attention to those things before."

"Well, you should." Netto blinked, a thought occurring to her. "Where are we going?"

"We just need to get far away enough so that Wily can't track us easily."

Right, Forte's loyalty program. This stunt would fall to pieces if that activated. It sure was a good thing that Forte was used to working around it.

He slowed to a stop an hour later, propping Netto up against a tree trunk. "Let's make a deal."

Netto looked up at him in confusion. "What kind of deal?"

"I'll take off the restraints that keep you from moving, and you'll help me remove the loyalty program."

"You can do that?" She gaped. "Wait, if you could do that, can't you remove the program yourself?" Forte gave her a look. "Oh. Right. You can't. Sorry." She then frowned. "Wait, I don't even know how to do that kind of stuff."

"I can teach you. Are you going to agree or not?"

"Sure," Netto sighed, "Will it be painful?"

"It shouldn't." Forte placed a finger on her forehead. She squeezed her eyes shut, immediately receiving the sensation of a foreign presence in her mind. Something lifted from her systems, and her hand twitched.

Forte stepped back. "You should be able to stand now."

Netto blinked, then raised her hand. She slowly stood, leaning against the tree for support. This was… "My joints feel all rusty," she complained, "How do you even walk?"

Forte just rolled his eyes.

Netto took a tentative step forward, then another, and another, until she was right in front of the other robot.

"Thank you anyway." Netto gave a heartfelt smile, leaning forward…

…

…

… And punched Forte right in the face.

* * *

Me: I'm going to name drop characters whenever I can and I'll somehow make them all fit into this universe.

Before the kidnapping, Netto had hair as long as Iris'. After, she cut her hair and made her voice deeper, so that was why Rockman didn't recognize her in City Strike.

Feel free to review or PM me for requests! It can be anything!


	4. New Beginnings

Requested by Aquila Aqua, a chapter about Netto-Enzan reunion that (hopefully) details their relationship.

This story will have polyamory pairings, in case you don't like that.

Aquila Aqua: Thanks!

LILO1938: Glad you think so!

Editor: kaffinee

Some editing highlights last chapter:

(About the title)

kaffinee: yikes

Me: I know it's a great title.

…

(When Netto gets knocked out again)

kaffinee: goddammit

Me: Yeah, see Netto this is why you shouldn't stop in the middle of a prison break. BECAUSE YOU'LL GET CAUGHT.

…

(When Netto punches Forte in the face)

kaffinee: BADASS.

… dude I actually thought she was gonna kiss him.

Me: Good. That means that this would work on the readers. Probably.

kaffinee: is it weird if I ship them

Me: Nah, not really since this is gonna have poly pairs.

…

I don't own Rockman EXE.

* * *

New Beginnings

Netto hummed happily, holding hands with Meiru as they walked through the forest together. "What great weather!"

Meiru smiled and nodded absently in response, yet her eyes were set on the tall, looming trees.

Noticing this, Netto paused, listening carefully to her surroundings. It was the middle of the day, when they didn't have to go to Yaito's bar for work yet, and the forest was very quiet. Which, she realized, was the problem. There was no birdsong, no scurrying of squirrels.

Instead, there were… buster shots?

Netto's eyes met Meiru's, and they nodded in unison, running to the source of the noise.

As they neared, Meiru quickly pulled Netto behind a tree. Netto opened her mouth to ask the other girl what was wrong, but Meiru shook her head frantically, motioning for her to be quiet. Netto closed her mouth, nodding, and they both peeked around the tree to see what was going on.

They were just in time to watch a white-on-black haired boy get slammed into another tree due to a white ball with blue polka-dots. He slumped to the ground, red vest and camo pants dirtied and ripped, as well as him being nearly unconscious. He looked to be the same physical age as Netto and Meiru, though his buster arm proved him to be a robot—just like them.

Which was probably why he was still alive. After all, any normal human would have died from the force of that attack.

The attacker—light blue pigtailed hair, pale peach dress, and long, slim arms—laughed in delight as the polka-dotted ball bounced back to them. "I know you have the blueprints for the newest model that IPC is building. It would benefit Dr. Wily greatly if he had them, so hand them over. If you do it right now, I might not even have to destroy you!" They giggled, as if they had just made a funny joke.

The boy's only answer was to shakily raise his buster and shoot, which the aggressor dodged easily.

"Is that your final answer?" the attacker asked cheerfully, receiving no answer. "Well then, I'll just have to take the data after I destroy you, then!" They kicked their ball, sending it flying toward the boy.

Netto dashed out, diving for the boy and rolling them both away. The ball hit the nearby tree instead, leaving behind sizeable cracks. She looked down at the boy, scanning him for serious injuries. He had many cuts and gashes, but his internal circuitry didn't seem to be too damaged, which was a relief. If he did have critical injuries, she might not be able to repair him.

"Hey, who are you?" the attacker asked, frowning in annoyance. They squinted at her, then grinned in realization. "Oh, you're the database, aren't you! The 'bot who escaped from Dr. Wily with the traitor, Forte!" They chortled, clapping their hands in delight. "If I capture both of you, I'll surely earn Dr. Wily's favor!"

"So you know who I am," Netto growled, eyes flicking over to the small flash of light behind the tree that Meiru was still hiding behind. Netto and Forte had not told her about that part of their past yet, and to find out like this… no, getting the IPC robot to safety was more important. She could worry about Meiru's reaction later. "But I don't know who you are. Isn't that a little unfair?"

"Oh, I'm Coloredman." The robot began bouncing their ball up and down. "Too bad, Rockman 'n Blues can't save you now!"

Netto bit her lip at that. She hasn't bothered to look through her newly regained memories yet, due to being constantly busy.

Or maybe she was just procrastinating. Who knows?

"Heart Slash!" A pink heart sliced into the ball, while another left a deep gash in one of Coloredman's arms, causing it to start sparking. Roll—the combat robot in charge of protecting the local area—stepped into view, eyes narrowed in anger. "People like you are not welcome here. Leave now or fight me—your choice."

Coloredman gritted their teeth in pain, glancing at Netto and the IPC robot, then to Roll. "Fine, you win. But I'll be back!" A flash of blue light, then they disappeared, presumably to Wily Fortress for repairs.

Netto sighed in relief, then looked up nervously as Roll approached them. "Ah, Mei—Roll, about what Coloredman said earlier…"

Roll quickly and gently kissed Netto's forehead, effectively stunning her into silence. "You and Forte both have things you don't want to talk about. I get that. I don't need to know every detail of your pasts, you know."

Slowly, Netto began to smile. "Yeah." She stood up, the unconscious IPC robot in her arms. "C'mon, we should—whoa!"

Roll easily lifted Netto up, much like what Netto had done with the boy. "This way is faster," she explained, breaking into a sprint. "Your house, right?"

Blushing, Netto nodded.

They reached their destination in a matter of minutes, thanks to Roll's extraordinary speed. While Roll walked toward the cabinets to search for Life Energy and E cans, Netto headed to the guest room to lay the boy down on the bed. She tugged off his vest and shirt, carelessly draping it over the back of a nearby chair, and winced at the number of injuries that he had.

Taking one of the Life Energy that Meiru—who had transformed back from Roll while getting medicine—brought her and giving the redhead a grateful smile, Netto held the capsule above one of the boy's cuts and broke it, letting the nanites that were stored inside spill out of the capsule and cover the wound. She did the same for his other injuries, using the smaller capsules for mere scratches and larger capsules for deeper cuts.

A hand settled on Netto's shoulder as she finished, and she looked up at Meiru. "What is it?"

"You boosted the effectiveness of the nanites, didn't you?" Meiru stated almost accusingly, "your eyes were glowing."

"They were?" Netto blinked, suddenly experiencing a wave of exhaustion. She leaned back against Meiru, resting. "Ah, I must have done it without knowing again."

Meiru clicked her tongue. "I know you want to get him—whoever he is—healed up as fast as possible, but it won't help if you do too much and ended up passing out. Now come on, you should recharge."

Netto nodded sleepily, but paused as a thought occurred to her, "Who's gonna watch him?"

Meiru whistled sharply in answer, and Gospel trotted in, tail wagging at the sight of both of his creators. "Gospel, can you watch him for us while I get Netto to her room?"

The support unit barked quietly, padding over to the bed. It sat down, head up and attentive on the injured robot. Its efforts to look serious, however, were ruined by the excited thumping of its tail on the floor.

Meiru giggled, helping Netto stand up. "Good job, Gospel." Then the two left the guest room and headed into Netto's.

Netto dropped down onto her bed, groaning tiredly. "I'm exhausted…"

"Well, you shouldn't have used your ability on all of the nanites…" Meiru began, but stopped as she noticed that Netto had already fallen asleep. "At least get under the covers," she grumbled quietly, tugging the blanket out from under the other girl and up to Netto's chin. She paused, then leaned down and pecked Netto on the forehead, where she had done so before as Roll.

"Rest well," she whispered, then left the room to join Gospel.

* * *

There was something nudging at her leg.

Meiru twitched, hands reaching up to rub at her eyes, blinking them open. She yawned. When had she fallen asleep?

A quick check of her internal clock told her that it had only been about an hour since they had brought the boy home.

There was still something nudging at her leg.

Meiru glanced down. "Oh, Gospel."

The dog barked quietly, informing her that the stranger was stirring.

She looked over to the bed, then back down at Gospel. "Why don't you go wake Netto up?" she suggested. "She'll want to know how he's doing."

It barked in excitement, saying that it's been a long time since it got to wake anybody up, and rushed out of the room.

Wait. Why wasn't Gospel allowed to wake anyone up?

There was suddenly a breathless yell coming from Netto's room: "Gospel, that hurt!"

Meiru fought back the urge to giggle.

So Gospel likes to jump on people to wake them? It must have been something he developed on his own, since she didn't recall that being in the initial programming.

Meiru turned her head at the low groan that the boy issued as he gradually woke.

He grimaced in half-remembered pain, his buster arm shifting back so he had both hands. He moved his arms, feeling the fabric of the mattress cover, and stopped. His eyes snapped open, darting around in alarm at his unfamiliar surroundings. Spotting Meiru, he gazed at her in confusion. "Where…?"

"First of all, you should know that this is a safe place," Meiru started after a moment. "We drove away the one who was chasing you."

The boy stared at her unblinkingly, then turned to look at the ceiling. "… Thank you," he said quietly. He blinked once, glancing down at his body and the nanites that were slowly but surely fixing up his injuries. "You… healed me?"

"Eh?" Meiru had to strain her ears to hear him. "Oh, no. That wasn't me. That was—"

"Meiru!" Netto ran in, followed by Gospel. "You gotta tell Gospel that he shouldn't jump on people's stomachs to wake them up!"

"Netto!?" Netto and Meiru turned to the boy, startled at his exclamation. He was trying to sit up, disturbing the nanites and reopening a couple of his cuts. There was an almost disbelieving look in his eyes. "How—so Saito—"

Netto walked over to the bed, pushing the boy back down. From where she was, Meiru could see Netto's faint scowl.

"Honestly, I used so much Life Energy on you. Don't just waste my hard work like that." She straightened, crossing her arms. "We can have a talk later if you want, _after_ you're all healed up." Then Netto walked over to the table next to Meiru, picking out some small capsules. "I don't even know your name."

Something flashed across the boy's face. Surprise? Pain? Loss? He looked at the wall with a now-blank expression. "… It's Enzan."

Netto stiffened, caught off-guard. For a moment, Meiru could see text rapidly scrolling across the other's eyes— _rivalannoyarrogantfriendinterestingspeciallove—_ before she blinked and her eyes were the usual brown again.

"Well, Enzan." Netto headed back to the bed, holding a Life Energy capsule over an open wound. "Can you hold still so I don't use up any more of these than I have to? They're hard to come by, you know."

Enzan nodded, watching as she broke the capsule open and then did the same for the other reopened injuries.

Meiru was pleased to note that Netto's eyes were not glowing this time.

They must not have heard the front door open, because Forte stepped into the room moments later. "Hey, Yaito's…" he trailed off, eyeing Enzan suspiciously. "Who's that?"

"Oh!" Meiru gasped. "We forgot the introductions!" She stood up, dragging Forte over to the bed. "I'm Meiru, and it seems that you know Netto already," she said to Enzan, then gestured to the support unit next to her. "This is Gospel, and he's Forte. Forte, this is Enzan. We saved him from one of Wily's robots while you were gone."

Forte raised an eyebrow at Netto, who shrugged in response. Enzan had paled when she'd introduced Forte, though Meiru couldn't understand why.

It might have had something to do with Coloredman calling Forte a traitor. Since for Forte to be a traitor, he would have had been in…

She really didn't want to pry, though.

"So!" Meiru clapped her hands together, ignoring the direction that her thoughts had traveled. "What were you saying earlier?"

Forte blinked. "Oh, right. Yaito wants you two at the bar as fast as possible."

Meiru and Netto stared blankly at each other, the words registering themselves in their heads.

"Oh no!" Netto panicked, rushing out of the room. "We're late for work!"

She slammed open the front door. "Meiru, hurry up!"

"I know!" Meiru started to follow after Netto, then paused and turned to Forte. "You and Gospel make sure that Enzan's healing properly!" Then she ran out of the house, closing the front door behind her.

There was a silence, which was soon broken when Forte walked out of the guest room. He returned minutes later with a book, and sat down on a chair. Then he began reading, ignoring Enzan's discomfort with being in the same room as him.

Hopefully, Yaito wouldn't yell at the two _too_ much.

* * *

Netto and Meiru/Roll have these abilities:

Netto: Largest database (initial programming), hacking (self-taught), nanite manipulation (upgrade)

Meiru/Roll: Armor form into Roll (upgrade), high agility (initial programming), communication with all support units (initial programming)

Forte, Netto, and Meiru all work as Yaito's bar because she pays really well but has high standards. Forte takes some odd jobs from time to time.

If you guys have any requests for this story, feel free to leave it in the reviews or PM me! It could be anything! From Saito/Bruce date to the creation of Gospel!

* * *

Some highlights during the editing process:

(Enzan intro)

kaffinee: lol when u get attacked by balls

Me: what a shitty day to get attacked by balls

kaffinee: lol when u get defeated by balls

Me: what a shitty day to get defeated by balls

kaffinee: lol when u could've gotten brutally murdered by balls

Me: What a shitty day for that guy in general haha

kaffinee: lololol

…

(When Netto dodges Coloredman's attack)

kaffinee: haha those are some hard balls

Me: Is this chapter just a dick joke chapter for you or what

kaffinee: yep

…

(Roll princess-carrying Netto)

kaffinee: oo lalallallalalalla

Me: ooooohhhhhh

kaffinee: aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh

…

(Meiru kissing Netto the second time)

kaffinee: ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooolallaa

Me: Meiru fucking loves forehead kisses oh my god


	5. Life, or Something

For Aquila Aqua, who wanted to know where Saito was in this universe. It might not completely define Netto and Saito's relationship, but it's pretty much how Netto viewed Saito until Wily came along.

I'm still taking requests, so feel free to PM me one or drop it in the reviews!

Editor: kaffinee.

I don't own Rockman EXE.

* * *

Life, or Something

 _Startup Initialization_

 _15%_

 _43%_

 _67%_

 _93%_

 _100%_

 _Initialization complete_

The unit opened their eyes, noticing first the human that stood above them, and then the… capsule-like container the unit was in. The top was open, so they sat up after scanning over the part of their database that taught them movement.

"Ah, you're awake." The human smiled at them kindly. A quick search informed the unit that the human was Hikari Yuuichirou, a well-known scientist and their creator. "Are there any problems with your systems?"

The unit checked, then shook their head.

"Really?" Their creator sighed in relief. "That's good."

The shuffling noise of cloth on floor attracted the unit's attention, and they looked to their right, spotting a brown-haired, emerald-eyed unit crawling toward them.

"Papa!" the other unit cheered, waving at the scientist.

'Papa' chuckled, about to walk over to the other unit, then turned back to look at them. "Do you need help?"

In response, the unit stood up, stumbling a little, and climbed over the side of the capsule. They looked at themselves, noting the waist-long hair they had, which was the same shade as the other unit's. "Who's that?" they finally asked, pointing at the other unit.

"He's Saito, your twin," Papa answered. "I wanted both of you to develop naturally, but it seems like your database boosted your development quite a bit."

"Saito…" the unit repeated, staring at their twin. "DHN 000, Hikari Saito." The database within them began an update, adding as much information as possible about the robot. "I'm… DHN 001, Hikari Netto. Does that mean Saito's older than me?"

"In terms of how long you two have been activated?" Papa asked, receiving a nod. "Yes, Saito was activated a few hours before you." He walked over to Saito, knelt down next to him, and gestured for Netto to come closer. "Saito," he spoke in a gentle voice, "this is Netto, your…" He paused and glanced at them, a question in his eyes.

Netto blinked, tilting their head in confusion. What came after that would be their relation to Saito. They knew that Saito is their brother; who are they to Saito?

After a moment, Netto made her decision, and answered, "… Sister."

"Ne-tto," Saito repeated, then giggled. "Netto!" He spread his arms out, one hand almost hitting Papa in the face.

"Saito loves hugs," Papa explained, noticing Netto's questioning glance.

She looked back at Saito, who was patiently waiting, a grin on his face. Crouching down, Netto scooted over to her twin and hesitantly wrapped her arms around him.

Saito squealed happily, hugging her tightly. Netto looked over to Papa, wondering if she did it right. He gave her a reassuring nod. Her cheeks darkened to a dusty pink.

Her twin then yawned, setting his chin on Netto's shoulder and drifting off to sleep. His grip hadn't loosened at all, which meant that Netto would be stuck until he woke up again. She took this time to analyze what she had learned from Saito.

Saito had been activated longer than Netto, making him the older twin, yet she was already mentally developed, while Saito was not. Her behaviors were similar to humans that were her physical age, she noted, yet Saito seemed more like an infant.

An adorable infant, at that.

She glanced at Papa, who was watching them with a fond smile, much like a parent would with their children. "How much does he know about the world?" she asked.

"Hardly anything," Papa whispered so that Saito wouldn't wake up. "He hasn't even gone outside."

"Oh." Her eyes flicked down to her twin, watching his slow breathing. "That's good, I guess." Then she paused. "He's cute. Kind of like… a kitten."

Papa remained silent, encouraging her to talk more.

"And I want to protect him. I don't ever want him to get hurt."

"If we're lucky, none of you will have to get hurt," Papa said, and Netto recalled a colleague of his, one who had tried to sabotage their creation. It was another thing included in her database.

"If we're unlucky, you have plans to create 'Rockman'," Netto stated. That wasn't public knowledge, Netto noted. Did he give her that information on purpose? "Let me be 'Rockman' if that ever happens."

"It won't," Papa denied firmly. "No one needs 'Rockman' right now."

"But later?"

"We'll find out if it ever comes." He stood up. "Could you carry Saito to the living room? The couch would be more comfortable than the floor."

Netto stood up as well, Saito still asleep in her arms. "Where's the living room?" she asked curiously. "What's it like?"

Papa chuckled quietly. "You'll find out when you get there."

And she did.

* * *

I'm still welcoming requests! Be sure to PM me or leave it in the reviews if you have one!

* * *

Some editing highlights:

("43%")

Kaffinee: are these random numbers

Me: Yes

Kaffinee: neat-o


	6. Bar Fight

For Aquila Aqua: a Netto-Saito reunion after City Strike.

Aquila Aqua: Don't worry, I don't think you're demanding at all! I enjoy having requests to fuel this story!

I'm always open for requests!

Editor: kaffinee

I don't own Rockman EXE.

* * *

Bar Fight

The bell jingled as the bar door opened.

"Welcome!" Netto called out without thinking, in the process of setting down a bowl of ramen for a pink-haired woman. Madoi, she thought the woman's name was. Plastering a smile on her face, she walked over to greet the two newcomers.

One of them gasped quietly when he saw her, and Netto blinked in curiosity. Well, that hasn't happened before.

… Wait, the newcomers looked familiar to her.

The taller of the two had long, silver-white hair that flowed down past his waist. A pair of black shades covered his eyes, and a yellow scarf was loosely wrapped around his neck despite the warm weather outside. He wore a red jacket, along with black pants and shoes.

The other person was the one who had gasped, his emerald-green eyes wide in recognition. He wore a light blue hoodie that looked to be one size too large, black shorts with a yellow stripe down the side, and brown sneakers.

Netto silently noted that the shorter one had the same hair color as hers. In fact, they seemed to be the same height, and… oh. _Oh._

It was Saito.

Well, at least from what her recovered memories described him to be. Even though Netto had finally gone through the memories that she had regained after Enzan's first appearance, she still had no idea who the tall one was.

Plus, she had a job to do, so any reunions would have to wait.

"Is it just the two of you?" she asked.

Saito appeared to have issues with suddenly seeing his twin in a bar. The tall one placed a hand on Saito's shoulder, catching the brunet's attention. They had a quick, silent conversation before the silver-haired stranger turned back to Netto and nodded.

Oh, good. She could move on soon. Spotting an empty table near the windows, she gestured to it. "Please sit over there. One of the maids will come by with the menus in a moment." Before they could reply, she spun around and headed toward a blond man's table to get his order.

"You really have your hands full, don't you?" the blond—Char-something-or-other, though Netto nicknamed him Gyro, due to her knowing his secret identity as the international mercenary robot, Gyroman—asked. "You and the redhead kid."

Netto rolled her eyes. "If Yaito would hire more servers, my job would be easier."

Gyro laughed. "Terribly sorry we regulars know the ins and outs of this place."

She scoffed, but then smiled in amusement. "If you're really sorry, you would call for one of the normal tables."

"But if I did that, I wouldn't get this special service!" Gyro exclaimed, eyes twinkling. He set the menu down. "The usual for me. A lady friend of mine is coming soon, so a wine-flavored drink as well."

Netto snorted, picking up the menu. "Flirt. This is the sixth time this month."

He winked. "You know me, kid. I can't resist the charm of beautiful ladies."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, Gyro." Netto sighed, about to head to the kitchen.

"It's Charlie!"

Right, that was his civilian name.

Eh, she might as well stick to Gyro. It was more entertaining, anyway.

After leaving the order with Mahajarama, one of the chefs, she was about to check on Madoi when one of the walls suddenly exploded, sending stone and dust everywhere. Forte skidded in, armor on, and knocked over a few tables, the plates and cups shattering onto the floor.

Damn it, doesn't he know that will come out of his paycheck—and maybe hers, too?

Out of the corner of her eye, Netto spotted Saito and his friend standing up in alarm. From this distance, Saito's friend looked like…

… Wow, that was dumb of her. If Saito was Rockman, then of course his friend _with the long, silver hair_ would be Blues. Of course.

"What do you want?" Forte snarled, attention presumably on the one who threw him into the restaurant.

Netto stormed up to him, pinching his cheek and pulling at it. "Could you _not_ make a mess!? I'd rather not spend the rest of my shift cleaning this up!"

"This is not the time for this argument!" Forte hissed, his right arm transforming into a buster.

"Hah! Your guard is down!" Netto didn't even have time to dodge before she was grabbed and forcibly dragged away from Forte. She struggled, protesting angrily, but then stiffened when she felt sharp claws poised threateningly on her neck. "Give me the rumored 'ultimate database', or I'll detach this kid's head from her body."

Netto actually had to take a moment to resist her urge to facepalm. If her captor had no idea who she was, then it would be so much easier to trick him.

"Oi, kid!" Madoi called out impatiently, unperturbed by the current chaotic situation. "Hurry up and give me the check!"

"Wait a little longer!" Netto yelled back in annoyance. "I'm a bit held up at the moment!"

"Fine," Madoi huffed, returning to her phone game.

Glancing over at Saito's table, Netto almost snickered at the baffled looks the two sported as they saw how unconcerned the other diners are.

Forte pulled something out from under his cloak and held it up; it was a gray flash drive. _Totally_ not Netto, who actually probably _was_ the ultimate database that the robot was looking for. For some reason. "Here's the thing you want so badly. Are we going to trade or not?"

"Get closer, and we'll trade on the count of three," Netto's captor decided.

Amazingly, he actually fell for it. Netto shot Forte a look, which he ignored.

Stepping forward, Forte moved until he was only a couple feet away from Netto. "On the count of three: one… two… _three_."

Neither of them moved.

"Wow, now I'm just disappointed in the both of you," Netto quipped.

"You don't even know him!" Forte argued.

"Doesn't mean I can't be disappointed in him, too."

"Enough!" her captor roared. "Hand over the database, and I'll let the brat go."

"Forte, am I really a brat?" Netto asked, disregarding her potential beheading by claw. All of the near-deaths incidents she got into must have dulled her survival instinct. Did she even have a survival instinct?

… At least she now knew what to examine first on her next maintenance check.

"Yes, absolutely," Forte replied sarcastically, and then tossed the flash drive out through the hole in the wall. "There. You get the database. Let the kid go."

How insulting. Now he's pretending he doesn't know her by name? Rude.

The strange robot growled, then chased after the flash drive, leaving Netto unharmed. Two seconds later, there was an explosion and a screech of pain.

Netto couldn't help but laugh. "He actually fell for it!"

"Kid!" Madoi yelled again. "You don't look so held up anymore!"

"I'm coming!" Facing Forte, she jabbed a finger in the direction of the broken wall. "You ruined it, you fix it." Dashing off to get the check for Madoi, she didn't notice Forte dropping down to the ground in order to dodge the strange robot's next attack.

Actually, it was more like she didn't care.

* * *

"Ahh, I'm exhausted," Netto complained, dropping down onto a chair at Gyro's table. It was her break, so she should be fine. "Your friend's not showing up, huh?"

"Seems like it." He sighed dejectedly. "I thought I really hit the jackpot this time."

"Please." She rolled her eyes. "The day you 'hit the jackpot' is the day I kiss Forte on the lips."

"Oh?" Gyro leaned forward, an eyebrow raised suggestively. He smirked. "Is that a bet?"

"Nope." Netto shook her head frantically. "No bet. I'm not letting it happen like last time. I don't even know _how_ it happened last time."

Gyro chuckled. "Smart, but boring choice." He glanced briefly to the side. "By the way, got any idea why that kid's staring at you like he's seen a ghost?"

"Hmm?" Following Gyro's gaze, she spotted Saito hurriedly turning away from the two. "Oh, him. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I know the reason why." She stood up, stretching her arms. "I'll go talk to him."

"Go ahead. I've got enough entertainment right there to keep me company." Gyro was, in fact, watching Forte fighting the strange robot. His table happened to have a perfect view of what was going on outside the broken wall.

"Yaito is going to have his head," Netto muttered, not really caring about his fate at the hands of the enraged bar owner. Pulling a chair over to Saito's table, she plopped down on it, a giant (fake) smile on her face. "How are you guys doing?"

"Ah, Netto…" Saito looked startled, as if he hadn't expected her to come right up to them. "Well…"

"Is this how the bar usually is?" Blues spoke up, his expression covered up by his shades. "I was not under the impression that destructive fights were very popular."

Netto laughed. "No, this doesn't happen often. It's usually because some human gets a bit too drunk and tries to start a fight. We have a clearing at the back of the bar just for that."

A loud crash, and Forte knocked over another (thankfully empty) table.

Netto turned, glaring fiercely at the robot. "What are you doing!? Finish the fight already!"

"He's too fast for me to hit!" Forte snapped, brushing dust off his cloak.

"Then get Roll or something!"

"Hello!" Roll popped out of nowhere, waving cheerily at Netto. "I'm glad you're safe!"

Netto blinked. "Wait… where were you?"

"Errands." Roll sighed, shaking her head and shrugging. "I thought Forte would be able to take care of things here, but…" She eyed the broken wall. "… This is why _I'm_ the local hero around here."

"Local hero?" Saito asked, confused.

Netto blinked. "Oh, you don't know?"

"Know what?"

"Well," she began, "Rockman and Blues. Ultimate duo and all that, yeah? Heroes of the world whenever a Wily War happens. Very well respected and stuff. Thing is, they can't possibly be able to stop trivial crimes in time with the Earth as big as it is. So we have these local heroes set up here and there, mainly around small towns, so that the place remains somewhat peaceful. Roll's a local hero, and so is Gutsman, though he protects a different town. Gyro over there—" She gestured over at the man. "—just does whatever he wants, but I'm sure he'll help if he gets paid."

"So…" Saito's brows furrowed, "… How come Forte's here?"

"Long story short, I punched him in the face once and now we're friends. Kind of. Something along those lines." Netto shrugged. "He's not a local hero or anything like that. He's more like Gyro, I think." She paused, thinking. "Where did that weirdo go?"

As if in answer, a rage-filled roar erupted from outside.

"Yeah, time to go," Roll hummed, grabbing Forte's wrist and dragging him away. "Come on, we have work to do."

"Have fun." Netto waved with a fond smile.

Roll winked, blowing Netto a kiss. "Treat me to a cherry-flavored E-can once we're done!" She dashed outside, and more explosions sounded moments later.

"And a peppermint-flavored drink for Forte if Yaito doesn't take too much out from our paychecks," Netto muttered, trying to calculate the cost of repairs for the wall, tables, and silverware. She paused, and then directed her attention back to Saito and Blues. "Oh, that reminds me, how are your beverages?"

"Huh?" Saito glanced down at his blueberry-flavored drink, then took a small sip. "Ah, it's really good!"

"And what about yours, Blues?" Netto briefly wondered if the sword-user's hair was as soft as it looked.

"Bruce," he corrected. "I did not know that there was a way to get artificially-flavored E-cans without nullifying the healing effects."

Netto smirked, ignoring the small stream of memories that burst forth after hearing the name. "That's Gabcom for you, always striving to modify battle items so they can be used for recreation. My boss's dad is the president of Gabcom, so the bar's always stocked with the newest products."

Though it was more of a restaurant than a bar, but Yaito had insisted it be called a bar for some reason. Humans sure were weird.

"Say, Netto…" Saito lightly bit his lip, fidgeting with his drink. "Are you… do you think you could…"

"I'm perfectly happy with my current life so far," Netto interrupted, having a good guess on what Saito was going to ask. "I don't know much about things before the whole Wily thing happened, and I'm not really interested in finding out. However," she continued when she saw the crestfallen face her twin displayed after hearing that, "now that you know that I work here, you can come visit whenever you want. As long as you buy a drink, of course; Yaito doesn't like loiterers. Bring some friends, too. The more money Yaito gets, the happier she is, and that means more money on payday."

Saito giggled. "Sure!"

"Oi, Netto!" Yaito yelled. When had she gotten here? "What happened to the wall!?"

Netto sighed. "Blame Forte and that robot he's fighting!"

"We have a new customer waiting for a special table, too!"

Netto opened her mouth to argue, but then closed it, remembering that Roll was still busy. She let out a breath of annoyance. "Fine!" Standing up, she gave Saito an apologetic smile and rushed to the front door.

… Huh.

"Enzan, how did you find this place?"

He blinked in confusion. "Netto? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, Enzan!" Saito called out, spotting the boy. "What a coincidence!"

"Saito?" He raised an eyebrow. "Big brother?"

Bruce raised his hand up to wave.

"Ne-tto!" Roll tackled her, momentum sending Netto forward to fall on top of Enzan, and hugged her tightly. "Cherry-flavored E-can, please!"

Ah, she and Forte must have either destroyed or driven away the other robot.

"Netto! Forte!" Yaito shouted. "I'm taking the repair costs for all the damaged items out from your next paychecks!"

Netto could only groan tiredly.

Could her shift _please_ end now?

* * *

Bruce/Blues was the first robot created, while Enzan, Saito, and Netto were created around the same time. He is Enzan's older brother.

Saito and Bruce were totally on a date.

The strange robot was Beastman.

Madoi and Mahajarama are humans.

In the bar, there are 'special' tables and 'normal' tables. Normal tables are waited on by one of the maids that Yaito has employed, while the special tables are waited on by servers like Meiru, Netto, and Forte. People who are seated at a special table get to converse with the servers, but cannot complain or harass the servers. As such, Yaito is the one personally hiring the servers that she finds 'interesting', but she's very, very picky. The paychecks for servers are fixed, though Yaito tends to pay them depending on how well they did their job.

Feel free to send me chapter requests!

* * *

Editing highlights:

("You know me, kid. I can't resist the charm of beautiful ladies." –Charlie)

kaffinee: disgusting

Me: First appearance in the anime he was flirting with Netto's teacher. Like gdi Charlie.

kaffinee: wtf… ok I just looked him up and goddamn he's ugly

Me: Holy shit.

…

("… or I'll detach this kid's head from her body." –Beastman)

kaffinee: sounds fun

Me: Average day in the life of Netto.

…

("Two seconds later, there was an explosion and a screech of pain.")

kaffinee: yolo right

Me: Thank u flash drive bombs

…

("Roll winked, blowing Netto a kiss.")

Me: Roll don't flirt when you're fighting crime.

kaffinee: smh


	7. Of Skilled Swordsmen and Egghead Pricks

For Aquila Aqua: A Netto-Enzan first meeting.

Aquila Aqua: Haha, the customers are so used to it that they just tune it out as long as they don't get involved. It's a wonder that Forte still has his job and that the bar is still popular.

ShadowRock21: I'll consider 'Saito becoming Rockman' to be your request, then! I've been wanting to write that for some time, anyway. Since robots live alongside humans, I imagine that they have picked up on many human aspects that are useful to them, one being the capability to experience emotions. That would extend to the development of romantic relationships. Though, since robots have no need to reproduce, sexual relationships won't be a thing. I don't remember much about the Archie comics, but the Emerald Spears sound very interesting. And I'm happy to hear that you enjoy both of my Rockman fics!

Editor: kaffinee

I don't own Rockman EXE.

* * *

Of Skilled Swordsmen and Egghead Pricks

"Hmm…" Netto frowned, peering at a static-filled camera screen. "Weird, I can't get this thing to work."

"Get what to work?" Rockman asked into his built-in communicator as he destroyed a Biri, picking up the Life Energy that dropped from the remains.

"The camera in the boss room isn't working," she explained. "None of Wily's robots or the Robot Masters ever did that. So either Wily made a new robot that doesn't want me to know what they look like, or it's a trap and it's not actually the boss room."

"Then where—" Rockman spun around, destroying a Garu that had tried to sneak up on him. "—where would the actual boss room be?"

"I don't know." Netto groaned, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "It's more likely that Wily made a new robot and set them loose on—" A faint noise outside suddenly attracted her attention, and she raised an eyebrow. That had sounded like an explosion for some reason.

"Netto, is something wrong?"

The robot nodded, then remembered that Rockman couldn't see her. "There's something going on outside. I'm checking it out." She glanced back at the screens, building a mental map of the area her twin was in. "The next room _should_ be the boss room." She glared at the static screen. "I don't think I can help you with anything else other than the usual boss advice."

"Be safe, be cautious, don't come back home half-destroyed," Rockman recited, grinning at the nearby camera. "Don't worry; I'm more experienced than I was before."

"And more cocky, too," she muttered.

Rockman flushed red. "Netto!"

"I'm just kidding!" Laughing, Netto hacked her way into the security cameras that were in the direction of the noise. She paused. "Huh. Well, then."

Biri, Garu, Mettools, and many more virus robots were attacking the area in waves. The unknown robot must have used Rockman's absence to his advantage.

"This guy's actually smart," Netto groaned. Definitely one of Wily's robots. Robot Masters didn't have the ability to try and harm humans, not like robots like Netto, who had free will.

"What was that?"

"Absolutely nothing important. Take your time." Netto glanced at the chest at the foot of her bed, wondering how many E-cans and Life Energy she had hoarded. Hopefully, it would be more than enough. "I'm heading out now."

"Okay!" Rockman chirped, shooting down a Kumonpe.

Netto stood up, stretching. She placed her headset by the keyboard and tied her hair up into a bun. Walking over to the chest, she opened it and picked up the black waist bag at the top. Habitually running a hand along the surface to check for damage, she then stuffed Life Energy capsules of varying sizes and a couple of E-cans inside. Then she put the bag on, nodding in satisfaction, and left the house, locking the door behind her. She sprinted to the area under attack, quickly bringing out her buster and shooting at the first Chikurito she saw.

"Hurry up and get to safety!" Netto yelled to a human male, destroying the Garu that was about to attack him. Really, why did he think a crowbar would be a good weapon? "Leave things here to me!"

The human glanced at her and nodded, backing away and running, hopefully, to the nearest shelter available.

Netto had to silently congratulate herself on being prepared as she quickly popped a Life Energy into her mouth. It would take longer for her to recover damage than it would be if she applied the capsule directly to her wounds, though it was better than the last time Netto had to fight, when she didn't have any recovery items at all. That had turned messy real quick.

As the robot shot down the waves of Mettools and Garu, she waved her free hand around, eyes glowing as she activated her ability. Capsules of Life and Weapon Energy rose up from the remains of the destroyed robots and flew to the palm of her hand as if drawn by a magnet. She quickly shoved the capsules into her waist bag, destroying the next Garu that lunged at her. Breathing heavily, she glanced at a pile of rubble, frowning in confusion at the sounds emitting from it.

Crying?

Netto moved toward the pile, having finished off the last wave of robots. "Is someone in there!?" she yelled, walking around the rubble to see what she could remove without causing the entire thing to collapse.

The crying halted, and a shaky voice answered her: "Y-yes! Please help me!"

Netto grabbed onto a steel beam, lifting it up slowly and throwing it away. "How many people are with you!?" Carefully removing a slab of concrete, she noticed a small hole that had been hidden behind the slab.

"No, i-it's just me…" There was a hiccup. "I-I got separated from Mama when the monsters attacked. It's s-so dark and dusty in here; I-I'm scared!"

"Don't worry; I'm going to get you out soon!" Netto said in determination, continuing to drag out pieces of the rubble. Soon, there was a hole large enough for her to crawl through, which she proceeded to do. As her optics adjusted to the lack of lighting, she spotted a small child with a peach-colored hat and dress. "Hey, can you see me? Over here!"

The child raised her head, blinking at the unexpected light. She nodded slowly.

Netto grinned. "That's great! Do you think you can come over here?"

The girl trembled in fear.

Netto glanced up, then gave the girl a reassuring smile. "Don't worry; I won't let you get hurt."

Hesitantly, the child crawled toward Netto, letting the robot pull her out just as the pile of rubble collapsed in on itself.

"See? That wasn't so bad, was it?" Netto gently hugged the child, relieved that they were both relatively unharmed.

The child nodded, lifting her head up, and paled. "Miss…" she whispered, grasping tightly onto Netto's shirt. "B-behind you…"

"What?" Netto looked behind her, then had to lunge forward to avoid being skewered on the claw of a Dream Virus. "Why is that thing here!?" She paused, leaning against the ruins of the wall, the child in her arms. Ducking down, she managed to dodge the Dream Virus's next attack. Tugging on the bond she shared with her support unit, Rush, she urged it to teleport to her location. A second later, she hurriedly set the child on top of the dog. "Rush, get the kid to the shelter as quickly as possible!"

It barked in concern. _What about you?_

The Dream Virus roared, knocking over a portion of a nearby building in its rampage. Netto quickly shoved Rush away, then jumped back before a chunk of former wall could crush them.

"I'm fine! Just get the kid out of here!" Netto yelled, shielding her face from flying shrapnel.

There was an affirmative bark from the other side of the rubble. _I'll come back!_

"Thank you, miss!" the child shouted, her voice fading as Rush raced to safety.

Netto sighed in relief, then scrambled away when the Dream Virus approached. She fired off a few shots, cursing quietly when they harmlessly bounced off. Stupid Dream Virus and its Dream Aura barrier. Backing away slowly, she failed to notice the wall behind her, and stumbled when she bumped into it. "Wha—oh, come on!"

The Dream Virus raised its clawed hands up with the intent of slicing Netto into pieces. As they came down, however, a red light flashed and separated its hands from its body. As the Dream Virus screamed and staggered away from the light, Netto managed to get a good look at her savior.

A kid who was her physical age stood with his back to her. Eggshell-like hair and a red vest, but Netto's attention was drawn to the weapon held in his hand, a beam saber with a ruby-red blade and a gold-colored hilt.

Oh boy, was she in _love_. Papa had never let her be within a two-meter radius of one of those! And today she got to see one in action!

This was turning out to be a good day.

"What are you doing!?" the boy said sharply, turning his head slightly to glare at her. "If you're just going to stand there and be useless, you might as well get out of the way!"

Owner of a beautiful beam saber or not, this kid was getting on her nerves. "Yeah!? Well, I didn't see you fighting off hordes of viruses that were attacking the city!" She lifted her buster up, aiming for the Dream Virus's wiring that had been exposed when the kid intervened, and fired.

The shot burned through the wires, causing sparks to erupt from the Dream Virus's body. It screeched as the barrier around its body flickered, then disappeared.

The boy charged forward, ignoring Netto's buster shots that had barely missed him, and jumped. Stabbing deeply into the virus's torso, he let gravity drag him down, the saber creating a deep gash as it descended.

Netto ran forward, grabbed onto the back of the boy's collar, and dragged him away from the robot as the signs of a soon-to-be explosion became evident.

He yelped, then shoved Netto away from him. "What the hell is your problem!?"

"What the hell is _your_ problem!?" Netto shot back, spotting a familiar emblem on the saber. "I didn't think Ijuuin Enzan, of all people, wouldn't be able to tell when something's about to blow up!"

As if to emphasize her words, the Dream Virus exploded, deafening noise and all. Netto stood still as the ensuing gust blew past, while the IPC robot looked at her, irritated.

"And just how did you know who I am?" he asked, deactivating the beam saber and putting it away.

Netto jabbed her finger at the hilt of the saber. "C'mon, I would recognize that emblem anywhere. Plus, out of all the IPC robots registered in the system, only one of them has a stupid eggshell haircut, and that's you!"

Enzan drew back, insulted. "Stupid egg—!?"

"Enzan, I have returned." Netto blinked at the interruption, looking over to the source. A red armored robot had arrived, one with the IPC emblem on his chest and long, silver hair that flowed out from under his helmet.

But what _really_ caught her attention was the limp, injured figure in the robot's arms.

"Rockman!" Netto rushed forward, gently taking her twin from the other's arms and laying him as flat as she could on the ground. His throat was partly torn out, several wires sticking out and ripped in half. His arms and legs have deep gashes scored in them, and his internal circuits were practically about to spill out of his left side. Looking at it made her feel nauseous, and she took a deep breath. "What did I tell you not to do!?"

"N-not c'b-ck half de—" Rockman struggled to say.

Netto's gaze locked onto his throat, and she pulled out several large Life Energy capsules.

Rockman's eyes widened, and he glanced worriedly at Enzan and the other IPC robot. "Wait, y-doing i-ere?"

"Of course!" Cracking open the capsules, Netto willed the nanites to connect the frayed wires together, using Saito's blueprints as reference. "How did you get like this, anyway?"

Rockman waited until his wiring was fixed before attempting to speak. "Magicman ambushed me with virus robots," he explained as Netto moved on to the wound on his side. "If it wasn't for Blues, I'd be…"

"Idiot." Netto sighed, finishing off an E-can to replenish her energy. "Blues and Egghead, you guys can leave now. I have this situation taken care of."

"Egghead?" Blues asked, looking over to Enzan.

He shrugged. "Father will be expecting us back soon. If they don't want help, we don't have to give them any."

"A-ah, before you leave…" Rockman's cheeks became slightly pink, and Netto stared at him in curiosity. "Thank you, Blues. For saving me back there, I mean."

There was a small grunt of acknowledgment. "You are welcome. However, take care, so that you will not get yourself destroyed again in the future."

Netto's eye twitched, but she managed to keep herself from scowling too much. Noticing Enzan giving Blues an incredulous look, she raised an eyebrow. What was that all about?

As the two IPC robots left, Netto exhaled softly in relief, having repaired the worst of Rockman's injuries. A small thought later, and her lips curled up into a smirk. "So it looks like you fancy that Blues person, eh?"

Rockman spluttered, his entire face bright red. "N-no way!" A twitch of his fingers, a quick glance down. "I-I was just grateful that he saved me, that's all! It's not like it was love at first sight or anything!"

"Ohh, so it _is_. " Netto giggled, helping Rockman stand up. "Nice to know that."

Rockman pouted, then grinned cheekily. "It's not like you're any different, you know. I saw the way you were looking at the other guy."

"Yeah," Netto said wistfully. "He had such a lovely beam saber, even though he was such a prick. Do you think I can convince Papa to buy me one as my activation day present?"

"His… beam saber?"

"Yeah. His beam saber." Netto looked at Rockman in confusion. "Isn't that what you were talking about?"

"I…" Rockman paused, then sighed. "Sure, that's exactly what I meant."

"Huh? It's not?" Netto asked. "What were you talking about, then?"

Her twin snickered. "Not telling!"

"Whaaat!? Come on Saito, tell me! I wanna know!"

"Nope, no way!"

* * *

Why did Enzan not have his beam saber when Coloredman was out to destroy him? Coloredman can create clones in here too, so one of the clones just snatched away the beam saber to get him as weaponless as they could.

Support units, besides with each other, can only communicate with their main units, and vice versa. The only exception so far is Meiru, who can communicate with all support units.

There's a poll on my profile in case I ever run out of requests, so check it out if you want!

I'm always up for more requests!

* * *

I got kaffinee to ship Netzan and Bluesrock. I'm good at this.


	8. Thoughts of a Secretary

For Aquila Aqua: The relationship between Blues and Enzan.

DemmCounterfeitBandits: Your request is accepted!

Editor: kaffinee

I don't own Rockman EXE.

* * *

Thoughts of a Secretary

"Enzan, here are the last of the documents that require your attention." Bruce set down a sheaf of papers on his younger brother's desk, as well as a spare E-can. As expected, Enzan immediately reached for the E-can, opening it and downing the contents in only a few gulps.

"Thank you, Bruce," Enzan said as he tossed the empty can into the nearby recycling bin. Picking up his pen, he returned to the current document that was laid out before him.

Bruce nodded, though he was sure that Enzan didn't see it, and then checked the time. The corners of his lips twitched downward into a frown when he realized how late it was. "Enzan, I think you should—"

"Don't worry about it, Bruce," Enzan interrupted, still focused on his paperwork. "I still have a few hours' worth of energy left. Besides, if Father sees that I have already finished the outline of the new model, he might actually consider my request for a day off."

"… Very well," Bruce said, dissatisfied. He moved to the couch, sat down, and, as had become his habit of late, began a quick maintenance check on himself. Being the first free-willed robot had its drawbacks, after all.

He could still remember his creator, his mother's face with clarity. Her gentle smile as she encouraged him to practice walking, a few days after his activation. Her peals of laughter when Bruce had excitedly compared his soon-to-be brother unit to an egg about to hatch. The soothing melodies she sang to comfort him and Enzan.

The peaceful look on her face, her eyes closed, as Bruce stood stiffly in front of her casket with Enzan pressed against his side, sobbing.

Ever since Mother had died, Father had acted cold to the two robots. Enzan was given the job of IPC vice president, while Bruce had become his younger brother's secretary and bodyguard. Neither of them had seen the human for more than once a month.

Bruce had to admit that it may have been because he resembled his creator quite a bit with his long, silver hair and soft blue eyes that displayed his every emotion, which he had covered up with sunglasses soon after she had passed. Such resemblance was what caused Enzan to cling onto Bruce like a lost child until his mental age had matured—was _forced_ to mature because of Father, who had retreated away from him because of that very similarity.

Bruce didn't mind the changes. After all, he would be able to keep his promise to Mother that he would protect Enzan this way.

(But he minded a lot, in fact. Sometimes he couldn't help but hate Mother for the promise that they had made, for contracting that deadly illness, for creating him in the first place. He couldn't help but hate Father for forcing responsibilities onto Enzan before the boy had had the chance to experience childhood, for distancing himself from anything that reminded him of his late wife, for leaving Enzan and Bruce to fend for themselves. Sometimes Bruce couldn't help but hate _Enzan_ for his efforts in trying to please a man who wouldn't want to even be near them for more than an hour, for being the subject of a promise that kept Bruce from going out to explore the world.

But most of all, Bruce hated himself for having those thoughts at all, because Enzan was Bruce's most important person and Mother and Father had created the two of them. They were the reason why Bruce was _Bruce_ , they were why Bruce even had the chance to exist. Why would Bruce ever hate any of them?)

A loud thump brought Bruce out of his musings, and he glanced over to see that Enzan had faceplanted onto his desk.

A small sigh escaped him, and Bruce walked over to his brother. "You overestimated yourself again, didn't you?" he murmured. Picking Enzan up, Bruce moved back to the couch, laying the boy down and covering him with a spare blanket. He went back to the desk, examining the remaining paperwork.

Enzan pulled this stunt too many times, so Bruce knew exactly what would happen when a robot used up all of their energy; a small portion of their memory was erased, resulting in the robot being unable to recall how they had shut down. In Enzan's case, he would not be able to remember if he had finished all of his paperwork or not. And luckily for Bruce, he knew how to perfectly imitate Enzan's handwriting.

"Now," Bruce muttered to himself as he picked up the pen, "time to get to work."

* * *

In short, Bruce acts much like Enzan's guardian, since Shuuseki is too much of a jerk to do that himself.

And yes, Enzan gets that day off, which may or may not lead to their first meeting with Netto and Rockman.

Also, Bruce did not have an alternate name when he was in his armor form, so when Rockman asked what Bruce's name was, he panicked and messed up on his own name, resulting in the creation of "Blues."

I will have slower updates because of life in general, just so you guys know.

I'm always free for requests! And if you can, please go to my profile and vote in the poll so I have more content to write for this!

* * *

Editing Highlights:

("… with Enzan pressed against his side, sobbing.")

Me: Happy things suddenly death.

kaffinee: yikes

Me: I know isn't it great?

kaffinee: no

…

("… kept Bruce from going out to explore the world.")

kaffinee: sobs

Me: Don't worry he's happier after being partnered w Rock bc they get to travel the world in order to keep Wily from destroying shit.

kaffinee: I like destroying shit

Me: We're not talking about you.


End file.
